Preventing A Panic Attack At Work

The worst thing that can ever happen to you on a normal working day is a panic attack. When you are working in a high stress and fast paced environment, things can get on top of you and sometimes this can lead to you break done and burn out. A panic attack is something which no one ever expects to suffer from, but it is something which can happen at the most unexpected time and leave you feeling worse for wear. Here are our top tips for helping you to lower stress and prevent a panic attack at work.

Have a friend

In the workplace you need to have someone who is there to help you and who will support you no matter what. This could be one of your colleagues or it could even be your line manager, but it is crucial you have someone there who will support you if something happens and will allow you the time you need to calm down. Find someone you can speak to about your problems and make sure they know when you are feeling stressed

Find a quiet spot

Every workplace will have a quiet place where you can escape to if your stress levels become dangerously high. If you don’t know where the quiet area in your office is, make sure that you ask someone and find out. It could be a garden area, a seating corner or even an empty office which you can sit in for a while to calm yourself down. Make sure you have easy access to this place whenever you feel a panic attack coming on, and get to this place before it takes hold.

Breathing exercises

One thing which can really help you when you suffer from a panic attack or you think you are going to is to breathe. Think about trying some deep breathing exercises and make sure that you take a few minutes to concentrate just on your breathing. This can help hugely because it focuses your mind onto something else and it calms your body.

Find something to fidget with

If you want to have something which can distract you from feeling a little bit stressed and panicky, you can buy yourself a fidget cube or a stress ball to keep your hands occupied. The value of this as a distraction is awesome and you will be much more likely to relax in the workplace and be able to carry on with your day successfully.

Comfort yourself

Honestly, sometimes the only person who can comfort you is yourself. You can think about bringing a few things into the workplace with you in the event of anything happening which makes you panic. For example you can bring a weighted blanket into the office with you which you can put on your legs or shoulders in the event of stress build up. You can also think about bringing some chocolate into the office which you can snack on when you are stressed which will improve your mood.

Be organised

It is incredibly important when you are looking to work in a relaxed environment that you stay organised. The importance of making a work schedule is more than you think because it gives you a sense of direction when you come to work each day. You will have clear and cut jobs to do each day and this will prevent you from stressing out in the event of forgetting where you were up to on a project. Having a schedule allows you to see exactly what you need to do each day and you will therefore no longer have that anxiety that you have forgotten something.

Find perspective

Feeling stressed out and panicked is a horrible thing to deal with, but if you want to help yourself and feel in control once more you need to gain a bit of perspective and understand that how you feel isn’t the end of the world. Instead of worrying about your deadline and a small piece of work which you have made a mistake on, think about how futile it really is to worry about these things. Do you really need to worry about one deadline? If you spoke to your manager they wouldn’t blame you for it. We often get ourselves worked up over nothing and this can be incredibly unhealthy. Just relax and realise that things will happen and not everything goes to plan. The biggest test you can give yourself is the way that you handle the issue.